It is no secret that the evangelical wing of the Republican Party has some strong reservations about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain. The "agents of intolerance" charge that McCain leveled at Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell during the 2000 primary, for instance, has not been forgotten. Nor were evangelicals pleased when McCain so quickly disavowed two prominent evangelical preachers, the Rev. John Hagee and the Rev. Rod Parsley, for making controversial statements about Islam, Hitler, and the Holocaust.

The coolness of evangelical voters towards Senator McCain is so pronounced that his opponent, presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, senses a rare political opportunity. Despite some profound policy differences, the Obama campaign believes that it can make some inroads in the evangelical community. Senator Obama has a lot of room for growth: a recent Calvin College poll gave Senator McCain a 57%-25% edge among evangelicals.

Two separate initiatives are under way to help Senator Obama narrow the evangelical gap. A couple of weeks ago, David Brody of the Christian Broadcast Network (home of Pat Robertson's The 700 Club) announced that the Obama campaign was planning to launch a grassroots initiative dubbed "The Joshua Generation" to target young evangelicals and Catholics. The phrase hearkens back to the Bible's Book of Joshua, in which the Lord spoke to Joshua and said "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel."

In a speech at Selma in March 2007, Senator Obama referenced that
story and said, "The previous generation, the Moses generation, pointed
the way. They took us 90% of the way there. We still got that 10% in
order to cross over to the other side. So the question, I guess, that I
have today is what's called of us in this Joshua generation? What do we
do in order to fulfill that legacy; to fulfill the obligations and the
debt that we owe to those who allowed us to be here today?"

But Senator Obama's efforts to reach to Christian conservatives may
have already hit a snag. His use of the phrase "Joshua Generation"
prompted a critical response
from Michael Farris, the founder, chairman, and chief legal counsel for
the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), an organization that
advocates on behalf of Christian evangelical home-schoolers. In 2003,
HSLDA established a program called "Generation Joshua," which is
designed to provide "Christian youth between the ages of 11 and 19"
with opportunities for civic and political involvement; the program,
which later trademarked the phrase "Generation Joshua," is now a
501(c)(4) organization.

So-called GenJ youth teams have worked on the political campaigns of
approximately 30 conservative Republicans (but so far, 0 Democrats).

In 2005, Farris authored a book called "The Joshua Generation:
Restoring the Heritage of Christian Leadership," in which he touted the
program and its potential for training future politicians and lawyers
who will bring a "Christian worldview" to their professional careers.
So far, there has been no public response by the Obama campaign to
Farris's complaint.

Senator Obama is not the only one to see an opportunity in the
evangelical disaffection for Senator McCain. Mara Vanderslice, the
former Director of Religious Outreach for the 2004 Kerry-Edwards
campaign, has launched the "Matthew 25 Network,"
a political action committee aimed at reaching out to diverse Christian
communities. The group's name is drawn from Matthew 25:35-40, which
admonishes Christians to remember: "For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink...
'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these
my brethren, you did for me.'"

Although the group is still working on its website,
the Matthew 25 Network has already endorsed Obama for "his vision for
America and his leadership that brings people together from across
different political and faith spectrums."

The Matthew 25 Network's invocation of the parable of Christian
charity fits nicely with the Obama campaign's message of hope and
societal change. But other portions of Matthew make it a somewhat
curious choice. The passage opens, for instance, with the parable of
the ten virgins, "which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the
bridegroom." Five of the virgins were foolish, and brought lamps but no
oil; the remainder wisely brought both. When the bridegroom arrived at
midnight, the five foolish virgins were sent to buy oil for their
lamps; but the five "that were ready went in with him to the marriage:
and the door was shut." When the five foolish virgins returned, they
were barred from the marriage chamber and admonished to "Watch
therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of
man cometh."

Matthew 25 also contains a parable about the man who gave money to
his servants before leaving on a trip. The first received five talents
(a large sum), the second received two talents, and the last just one.

While the master was away, the first two servants used their money
to invest and trade. When the master returned, each had doubled their
money and received the praise of their lord: "Well done, thou good and
faithful servant."

But the servant who had received a single talent did not invest his
money, but instead put it in a no-yield account (i.e., buried it in the
dirt). When his master returned, he was angry to learn that his servant
had not used his money to trade: "Thou oughtest therefore to have put
my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have
received mine own with usury." The servant's lone talent was taken from
him and divided between the two more prosperous servants.

"For unto every one that hath shall be given," the master
proclaimed, "and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not
shall be taken away even that which he hath."

The lesson of this particular parable is evocative of the so-called "prosperity gospel,"
the belief that acceptance of Jesus as someone's personal savior leads
not only to eternal salvation but also worldly wealth. It is an
evangelical movement known as the "Word of Faith," and it is espoused
by, among others, the Revs. Hagee and Parsley.

While Senator McCain may have been uncomfortable with some of their
political pronouncements, there is no indication that his campaign is
troubled by the idea of a "prosperity gospel," or the somewhat chilling
message of Matthew that "them that has, gets."

The mixed themes of Matthew 25 (polygamy, orgies, usery, penury,
faith, and charity), as well as the Obama campaign's trademark issues
with "Generation Joshua," illustrate the perils of mixing politics and
religion. Both of these initiatives, as appealing and tempting as they
may be for Democrats, also run counter to the more fundamental idea
that we should be moving away from identity politics as the guiding
principle of our campaigns. It is an inherently divisive approach, one
that cripples our ability to reasonably discuss and decide on the
policies needed to address this nation's increasingly urgent problems.

It is no secret that the evangelical wing of the Republican Party has some strong reservations about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain. The "agents of intolerance" charge that McCain leveled at Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell during the 2000 primary, for instance, has not been forgotten. Nor were evangelicals pleased when McCain so quickly disavowed two prominent evangelical preachers, the Rev. John Hagee and the Rev. Rod Parsley, for making controversial statements about Islam, Hitler, and the Holocaust.

The coolness of evangelical voters towards Senator McCain is so pronounced that his opponent, presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, senses a rare political opportunity. Despite some profound policy differences, the Obama campaign believes that it can make some inroads in the evangelical community. Senator Obama has a lot of room for growth: a recent Calvin College poll gave Senator McCain a 57%-25% edge among evangelicals.

Two separate initiatives are under way to help Senator Obama narrow the evangelical gap. A couple of weeks ago, David Brody of the Christian Broadcast Network (home of Pat Robertson's The 700 Club) announced that the Obama campaign was planning to launch a grassroots initiative dubbed "The Joshua Generation" to target young evangelicals and Catholics. The phrase hearkens back to the Bible's Book of Joshua, in which the Lord spoke to Joshua and said "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel."